Soccer star attacked

TWO soccer stars chased down a thug who attacked one of their team-mates during a pitch invasion by fans and handed him to police. Rochdale forward Glenn Poole was punched to the ground after Peterborough United fans invaded the pitch following the League Two game in Cambridgeshire on Saturday.

TWO soccer stars chased down a thug who attacked one of their team-mates during a pitch invasion by fans and handed him to police.

Rochdale forward Glenn Poole was punched to the ground after Peterborough United fans invaded the pitch following the League Two game in Cambridgeshire on Saturday.

Eyewitnesses said a man confronted the Dale winger and made gestures at him before punching him to the floor.

Poole's team-mates David Flitcroft and David Perkins chased the man across the pitch through hundreds of fans and caught him. They then handed him over to police, who arrested him.

Eyewitnesses who were at Peterborough's London Road ground said they "could not believe what they were seeing".

One Rochdale supporter said: "The Peterborough fans were chanting `on the pitch' all through the game and at the final whistle there was a big pitch invasion as there sometimes are at these kind of games.

"One of them ran up to Glenn - possibly one of the most mild-mannered players on the pitch - and cracked him.

"A couple of the Rochdale players saw what had happened and were chasing the attacker through hundreds of Peterborough fans who had invaded the pitch. They eventually caught him and the police arrested him."